A thought about presidents

A thought occurred to me today.  

While some might find this fact revolutionary, I think it’s an interesting thought, and I am going to share it.

Over the past 20 years, we have had three republicans in the presidential race; two presidents, and one candidate.  On the Democrat side, we have had one president and two candidates.

Of the three Republicans, all have been wealthy men.  Furthermore, all three of them have become wealthy through inheritance.  Not one of them has contributed to his own fortune in a significant way.  As a matter of fact, in W’s case, he’s actually done more damage to his fortune than good.

For the Democrats, we have two self made men, and one that comes from money.  One self made man was the president for eight years, and it’s looking like the other will do the same.  Both of these men worked for everything they have ever owned.

The self made men are in favor of social justice.  They support the idea of social responsibility, and contributing to the well being of their fellow men.  They believe that we all have an obligation to invest back into the society that has given us so much.  They understand that the more people we raise up out of poverty, they better we all will be.

The men who argue that you should be able to keep all of what you have earned have never actually earned a dime in their lives.  Does it come as any surprise that all three men oppose an inheritance tax?  They put themselves forth as the defenders of the working man while denying him health care, and giving his boss a tax cut.  They look the lower middle class in the eye, while they pick its pockets.  These trust fund babies and husbands of opportunity could never understand what it means to struggle for a living, they’ll never know how it feels to choose which bill to let go for the month. You couldn’t get much further away from a normal American life.

I wonder, does George W Bush relate with the common man because, from his bedroom window, he can see the servant quarters?

Why then, do the rural blue collar workers of the United States gravitate towards these blue blooded children of privilege, while vilifying the members of their own class who have proven to be exceptional men on their own merit?

How can anyone say, with a straight face, that Obama is an elitist, while McCain is for the common man?  Why was Bush to common man’s president, when his blood runs bluer than Spock’s?

The Sale of Integrity

This campaign season has accomplished something I thought was impossible.  After the 2004 election, I thought that nobody could outdo the Bush/Rove lies and slander.  When I saw a draft dodger actually attack a war veteran’s military record, and question the “degree” of enemy fire he might have been under when receiving a purple heart, I thought I had seen the lowest point in American election history.  But the McCain/Palin team has proven me wrong.

John McCain is someone I used to respect.  Ideological differences aside, he was a man of integrity; who could set aside partisan differences to the benefit of the American people.  But the past year has made clear that he is willing to compromise everything in order to become president, including selling his soul to the Republican Party.  He has consistently adopted the very practices that he once fought against.  He has turned what I had hoped would be an election season to return dignity to the American political process into yet another battle for the lowest common denominator.

Can any intellectually honest person actually justify the selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate?  Can we interpret the choice as anything other than an attempt to pander to the fundamentalist base, and the feminists in one fell swoop?  Can we look at the hasty vetting process as anything other than an indication of the sort of thorough research and consideration McCain will invest in policy decisions, should he gain the Oval Office?

After promising to make this campaign an honest and respectful one, about issues and integrity, he has reversed himself and said it is all about personality.  He’s proven that by trying to drum up controversy over pigs and lipstick.  He pledged not to run negative ads, but went back on that promise before the general election had even begun.

McCain seems hell-bent on destroying a good reputation built on years of service to his country.  Yesterday, he went on the network morning shows, to explain that when he has repeatedly stated that, “the fundamentals of our economy are sound”, what he means by fundamentals, is the American worker.  He, and any rational person, knows that he did not intend to redefine the word fundamental to mean American worker.  Anyone with half a brain can see that the economy has crumbled to the point where his assertion that nothing is wrong can no longer be taken seriously.  So, in order to save face, and avoid an admission of guilt, he has redefined his statements. 

Even when he is caught out in a lie, McCain continues to repeat them.  If he knows they are lies, and he knows that the public knows they are lies, why does he continue to repeat them?

The most important lesson the Bush administration has taught America is that truth does not matter, just so long as you repeat the lies often, and loudly.  Eventually, whistleblowers come to look like whiners for constantly harping on what they say, and the public becomes bored with the argument.  After a week or two out of the news cycle, the repeated lies become de facto fact.

Who does he expect to win over with blatant lies and deliberate smears?  Apparently the complete morons he hopes will carry him to the Whitehouse.